Posts by Jason Hindle

Gave it a try today

Slick but also a reminder why I avoid Ubuntu. Problems with the latest/greatest? Well... Wouldn't ssh or https to anything while connected to the office via Openconnect. Odd really, because I was able to ssh from the corporate Dell to my shiny new Ubuntu VM. A colleague with deep knowledge of ssh helped me with the former. I'm still looking at the latter. I never have these problems with Mint and CENTOS. I've also spun up a Mint VM under Hyper-V, but that takes a little more effort (had to tell it what screen resolution to use, and copy/paste won't work between it and Windows, unlike a VirtualBox resident).

Also, Hyper-V isn't necessarily better than VirtualBox. Whereas Virtualbox sees your monitor as its monitor, connection to a Hyper-V is via Remote Desktop/X (the only way is headless, it seems). Overall performance is better, but graphic performance is a little sluggish. Good to muck around with these things.

I would certainly miss the unfettered data usage

When I'm out and about with my camera, in Europe, I like to be able to frequently upload photos from my camera to my phone, and then onto Lightroom in the cloud. If I have the big Sony camera with me, that means I'm shunting a lot of data around. Of course, local SIM cards are readily available and I'm perfectly happy to go back to doing things that way.

So, I think the reintroduction of roaming charges (or simply making my data allowance unusable, as I've found Three are quite good at) would disproportionately affect those who don't have the gumption to find cheaper alternatives. In other words, mostly the very people who voted for this.

Microsoft's quest to own work

I'm struggling to find a link, but her premise of a cogent article I recently read is that Microsoft is on a quest to own work. They own the social network of work, the office tools most people use at work and home, the development tools used by a great many programmers and now they own the place where a lot of the source code goes, and everything can be done in Microsoft's cloud. Any consumer/lifestyle play, by Microsoft, is going to spring out of this setup. Like them or loathe them, Microsoft as has a lot to leverage when it comes to creating and selling (hypothetical) shiny new things.

Good luck

The weekly On Call has been a reliable laugh, so best of luck with what comes next.

There are a lot of sub £200 Windows Tablets out there

Made in China. It would be interesting to see what proportion of the growth in shipments comes from these.

It’s an expensive way to run Office

When you factor in the cost of the pretty much mandatory keyboard.

So it's just the (none pro) Surface 3 with slightly better processor?

Paint me unimpressed. Also.... This obsession with the Surface form factor... It's crap for using on public transport (unless you're in love with the on screen keyboard). Then there's the app store. I think Windows 10S is a fine idea in principle, but what percentage of buyers can survive entirely on the contents of Microsoft's app store?

Edit: Oh, and the usual promise of an LTE version, for later, that will doubtless be as rare as rocking horse shit.

I have a lot of time for Public Health England, and the NHS

In some ways they're the greatest users of big data. However, I do sometimes get the impression the fanatics are running the asylum. Who remembers the pronouncement of ten a day (which surely would have turned us all Vegan)?

I've read a couple of reviews of Windows on ARM

They're quite mixed. I'd probably avoid the first iteration (but when was that not true?) and perhaps wait for more of the software (especially Office, it seems) to be natively compiled to the new processor. It's a compelling idea, but the devil is in the implementation.

There’s a lot of problems

I had to spend a little time in Out Patients, at a hospital last year. A few days later, I received a copy of a letter from the consultant, addressed to my GP. Being in the same business as your average El Reg reader, and therefore being a picky bastard, I did of course check with said GP who was delighted with the letter I handed to her!

To say the NHS is in a bit of a mess would be the understatement of the century. As far as I can tell, it’s mostly down to whichever government.

The Sandler comparison

Is surely insulting to our new AI overlords?

Remind me... What is Essential’s USP

And when was the last time a proprietary peripheral port succeeded in a mass market product?

Unethical?

"The first question worth asking, in this case, is whether the publisher was in fact doing anything wrong, considering that mining cryptocurrency is not illegal or unethical by itself."

Hmmm... This statement deserves a little scrutiny. If you're using my resources for personal gain, without my knowledge of consent, then I think there's a pretty strong argument for unethical behaviour.

Autonomous cars will be super safe

Just as soon as they’re the only cars on the road. Puny AI can’t cope with the Human Factor.

So are there no development solutions that don't involve installing stuff?

That exist within the cloud (i.e. the whole point of a Chromebook)?

Tips for getting the best out of the camera...

Obviously, the monochrome sensor is higher resolution but, so far, I’ve only managed to use it with the Phone's own camera app (Select Mono, then either Pro or Portrait). For colour photography, download Adobe Photoshop CC and use that as your camera. It takes DNGs, and Adobe Sensei (just press auto) does a reliable job of processing these with near zero effort. The camera isn’t fully supported, at the moment, so noise management is a bit off for photos processed in Adobe.

Sample photos:

https://flickr.com/photos/33337735@N00/sets/72157689868399490

https://flickr.com/photos/33337735@N00/sets/72157695798253475

https://flic.kr/p/244XQ2A

No issues so far

I do use Chrome for a couple of thibgs, on W10, and haven't seen any issues since the big April update.

I'm not sure what Apple expected from iPhone X sales

At its price point, it's something of a niche/luxury product. Most people who buy into iOS are going to buy something cheaper. I almost bought one*, because I like to flip/flop between Android and iOS when it comes to my phone. I like both, and the resale value of iPhones is generally better than for Android phones (something always bearing in mind if, like me, you watch your TCO).

* Got curious and bought a Huawei instead (complete with a set of Bose headphones for pre-ordering, which mitigates the fact the phone will be worth thruppence this time next year).

How many actually buy their phone via an MVNO?

I assumed most would simply pick up whatever phone they could afford, online, and go for a SIM only contract.

I think Windows Phone (of sorts) will be back

Actual Windows 10 running on actual ARM will give Microsoft a way back. Pity the App Store strategy has been badly botched. Microsoft have a very slim chance at a way back. I don’t think I’ve seen a product strategy blown so badly so often.

Seems inevitable

But I have a hard time believing IP telephony will be as robust the the system it replaces.

Never had the Mega Drive

Went SNES instead. But we still have a Dreamcast!

Nothing dubious about the DXO scores

They’re pretty objective but.... Say nothing about pleasing the JPEGs will look. Both Samsung and Apple have super JPEG processing that look pleasing and squeeze everything they can from those small sensors. My P20, OTOH, has the DXO bragging rights (and shoots raw), but the JPEGs are a bit hit and miss depending on the shooting scenario.